Animal Nutrition
AP Biology
2006-2007
What do animals need to live?
 Animals make energy
using:
food
 oxygen

food
 Animals build bodies
using:

food for raw materials
 amino acids, sugars,
ATP
O2
fats, nucleotides

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ATP energy for synthesis
Nutritional requirements
 Animals are heterotrophs
need to take in food
 Why? fulfills 3 needs…

 fuel = chemical energy for production of ATP
 raw materials = carbon source for synthesis
 essential nutrients = animals cannot make
 elements (N, P, K, Fe, Na, K, Ca...), NAD, FAD, etc.
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How do animals get their food?
filter (suspension) feeding
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fluid feeding
substrate feeding
bulk feeding
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Different diets; different lives
 All animals eat other organisms

Herbivores
 eat mainly plants
 gorillas, cows,
rabbits, snails

Carnivores
 eat other animals
 sharks, hawks, spiders, snakes

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Omnivores
 eat animals & plants
 cockroaches, bears, raccoons, humans
 humans evolved as hunters, scavengers & gatherers
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Getting & Using Food
 Ingest

taking in food
 Digest

mechanical digestion
 breaking up food into smaller pieces

chemical digestion
 breaking down food into molecules
small enough to be absorbed into cells
 enzymes (hydrolysis)
intracellular
digestion
 Absorb

absorb across cell membrane
 diffusion
 active transport
 Eliminate

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undigested extracellular material
passes out of digestive system
extracellular
digestion
Digestive systems
Everybody’s got one!
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Human digestive system
Alimentary Canal
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Common processes & structures
 Movement & Control

peristalsis
 push food along by rhythmic waves of
smooth muscle contraction in walls of
digestive system

sphincters
 muscular ring-like valves, regulate the
passage of material between sections of
digestive system
 Accessory glands

salivary glands, pancreas, liver & gall
bladder
 secrete digestive juices (enzymes & fluid)
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Swallowing (& not choking)
 Epiglottis




problem: breathe & swallow through same orifice
flap of cartilage
closes trachea (windpipe) when swallowing
food travels down esophagus
 Esophagus
move
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food along to stomach by peristalsis
Ingestion
 Mouth

mechanical digestion
 teeth
 breaking up food

chemical digestion
 saliva
 amylase
enzyme digests starch
 mucin
 slippery protein (mucus)
 protects soft lining of digestive system
 lubricates food for easier swallowing
 buffers
 neutralizes acid to prevent tooth decay
 anti-bacterial chemicals
 kill bacteria that enter mouth with food

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mouth
break up food
moisten food
digest starch
kill germs
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Stomach
 Functions

food storage
 can stretch to fit ~2L food

disinfect food
 HCl = pH 2
 kills bacteria
 breaks apart cells

chemical digestion
 pepsin
 enzyme breaks down proteins
 secreted as pepsinogen
 activated by HCl
But the stomach is made out of protein!
What stops the stomach from digesting itself?
mucus secreted by stomach cells protects
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stomach lining
Ooooooh!
Zymogen!
mouth
break up food
moisten food
digest starch
kill germs
stomach
kills germs
store food
break up food
digest proteins
cardiac
sphincter
pyloric
sphincter
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Coevolution of parasite & host
Ulcers
Colonized by
H. pylori
 Used to think
ulcers were
caused by stress

tried to control
with antacids
inflammation of
stomach
Helicobacter pylori
 now cure with
antibiotics

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inflammation of
esophagus
H. pylori
 Now know ulcers
caused by
bacterial
infection of
stomach
Free of
H. pylori
inflammatory
proteins
(CagA)
cytokines
cell damaging
proteins
(VacA)
helper T cells
neutrophil cells
white blood cells
Revolutionizing healthcare
1982 | 2005
"for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role
in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease"
Helicobacter pylori
J. Robin Warren
Barry Marshall
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Small intestine
 Function


major organ of digestion & absorption
chemical digestion
 digestive enzymes

absorption through lining
 over 6 meters!
 small intestine has huge surface area = 300m2 (~size
of tennis court)
 Structure

3 sections
 duodenum = most digestion
 jejunum = absorption of nutrients & water
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 ileum = absorption of nutrients & water
Duodenum
 1st section of small intestines

acid food from stomach mixes with
digestive juices from accessory glands:
 pancreas
 liver
 gall bladder
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Pancreas
 Digestive enzymes

What stops
Ooooooh!
pancreas
Zymogen!
from
digesting
itself
peptidases
 trypsin
 trypsinogen
 chymotrypsin
 chimotrypsinogen
 carboxypeptidase
 procarboxypeptidase

small intestines
pancreatic amylase
 Buffers

reduces acidity
 alkaline solution rich in
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bicarbonate (HCO3-)
 buffers acidity of material from
stomach
Explain how this is a
molecular example of
structure-function theme.
mouth
break up food
moisten food
digest starch
kill germs
pancreas
produces enzymes to
digest proteins & starch
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stomach
kills germs
break up food
digest proteins
store food
Liver
 Digestive System Functions

produces bile
 stored in gallbladder until needed
 breaks up fats
 act like detergents to breakup fats
Circulatory System
Connection
bile contains
colors from old
red blood cells
collected in liver =
iron in RBC rusts &
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makes
feces brown
mouth
break up food
moisten food
digest starch
kill germs
liver
produces bile
- stored in gall bladder
break up fats
pancreas
produces enzymes to
digest proteins & starch
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stomach
kills germs
break up food
digest proteins
store food
Digestive enzymes
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Absorption by Small Intestines
 Absorption through villi & microvilli

finger-like projections
 increase surface area for absorption
Ooooh…
Structure-Function
theme!
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Absorption of Nutrients
 Passive transport

fructose
 Active (protein pumps) transport

pump amino acids, vitamins & glucose
 against concentration gradients across
intestinal cell membranes
 allows intestine to absorb much higher
proportion of nutrients in the intestine than
would be possible with passive diffusion
 worth the cost of ATP!
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nutrients are valuable…
grab all you can get!
mouth
break up food
moisten food
digest starch
kill germs
liver
produces bile
- stored in gall bladder
break up fats
pancreas
produces enzymes to
digest proteins & starch
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stomach
kills germs
break up food
digest proteins
store food
small intestines
breakdown all foods
- proteins
- starch
- fats
- nucleic acids
absorb nutrients
Large intestines (colon)
 Function

re-absorb water
 use ~9 liters of water every
day in digestive juices
 > 90% of water reabsorbed
 not enough water absorbed
back to body
 diarrhea
 too much water absorbed back to body
 constipation
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You’ve got
company!
Flora of large intestines
 Living in the large intestine is a rich
flora of harmless, helpful bacteria

Escherichia coli (E. coli)
 a favorite research organism

bacteria produce vitamins
 vitamin K; biotin, folic acid & other B vitamins

generate gases
 by-product of bacterial
metabolism
 methane, hydrogen sulfide
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Rectum
 Last section of colon (large intestines)

eliminate feces
 undigested materials
 extracellular waste
Tell them
about the rabbits,
 mainly cellulose from plants
George!
 roughage or fiber
 salts
 masses of
bacteria
appendix
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mouth
break up food
moisten food
digest starch
kill germs
liver
produces bile
- stored in gall bladder
break up fats
pancreas
produces enzymes to
digest proteins & carbs
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stomach
kills germs
break up food
digest proteins
store food
small intestines
breakdown food
- proteins
- starch
- fats
absorb nutrients
large intestines
absorb water
Appendix
Vestigial organ
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AP Biology
2006-2007